Official data shared has revealed that New Zealand's trade deficit managed to shrink for the month of November and was also smaller than the expectations that were being pegged, which helped the country's currency to hit a seven-week high.

But it has been warned that the decline in imports, which lead to the smaller deficit, is unlikely to continue for very long, as New Zealand's anemic economy is slowly gaining strength once again.

For the month of November, the trade deficit totaled NZ$269 Million, as compared to the total of NZ$594 Million recorded for 2008's November, and revised deficit figure of NZ$495 Million for October. The numbers were shared by Statistics New Zealand on Thursday.

The total deficit has managed to beat the expectations pegged by economists, who were expecting a figure of NZ$350 Million.

The narrowing of deficit was mainly on the back of a fall in imports as compared to exports. While exports managed to rise by 3.5% as compared to the previous month, imports fell by 3.5%. "As the NZ economy begins to recover over 2010, import demand is likely to pick up and limit further improvements in the trade deficit", said ASB Bank economist Jane Turner.